Premium
Mwihoko aircraft crash: Six things we know so far
Kiambu county Fire and Rescue Brigade, together with security officers, clear debris after a light plane crashed at Mwihoko, Githurai 45.
What you need to know:
- The plane, a Cessna Citation XLS, belongs to Amref Flying Doctors, the rescue organisation confirmed in statement.
- Amref confirms that all four members of its crew — the pilot, first officer, nurse, and doctor — died in the crash.
An aircraft has crashed at Mwihoko area, Githurai 45. Police, the military and other rescuers are working to clear the wreckage and debris.
Here's what we know about the crash so far:
1. The plane, a Cessna Citation XLS, belongs to Amref Flying Doctors, the rescue organisation confirmed in statement. It took off from Wilson Airport at 2.17pm and was headed to Hargeisa, Somaliland, before crashing in Mwihoko.
"At this time, we are fully cooperating with relevant aviation authorities and emergency response teams to establish the facts surrounding the situation," Amref Flying Doctors said in a statement.
2. Amref confirms that all four members of its crew — the pilot, first officer, nurse, and doctor — died in the crash. Two other people from the local community also perished, according to Amref CEO Stephen Gitau, bringing the death toll to six.
An additional four individuals sustained minor injuries. They were treated at the scene and discharged.
3. According to Sub-County Police Commander Maurice Odanga, who is on the scene, the aircraft had between three and four people on board.
“For now, the focus is to try and see whether there are any survivors but preliminaries indicate the occupants may all have died after the crash,” Mr Odanga said.
Screengrabs of images taken from the scene of the crash.
4. The aircraft crashed into residential houses in Mwihoko, which sits on the border of Kiambu and Nairobi counties. According to witnesses, it was flying unusually low over residential and commercial buildings before it went down.
“It looked like it was struggling to land...it hit several houses before crashing,” said Njeri Wanjiru, a local resident.
5. The aircraft lost radio and radar contact 3 minutes after taking off from Wilson Airport. This was confirmed by the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA), which says it is looking into the cause of the crash.
6. The scene of the crash covers an area with a radius of up to 100 metres, and has damaged multiple homes. The incident happened near Mwihoko Secondary Shopping Centre.
Rescuers from both Kiambu County and the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) are on scene to put out fires that engulfed several homes after the crash. Meanwhile, some residents were seen collecting pieces of scrap metal from the crash site even as rescue operations continued.
Kiambu county Fire and Rescue Brigade, together with security officers, clear debris after a light plane crashed at Mwihoko, Githurai 45.
